BP #1

In this article, it discusses false news and the importance it has played in this past election with all the accusations against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton but more specifically, Trump. With the media playing such an important role in today’s society, false news is becoming more frequent. Although Trump is an easy target because of some of the comments he has made, this article stresses the importance of using certain words in a news article. More specifically it discusses the word “lie” and how powerful of a word it can be. The article explains how words like “untruth” and “falsely” and “unverified claims” are often used but as soon as someone uses the word “lie” in their news article, they are questioning the person’s intent of the matter. How are we to know what goes on in someone’s head and what their “intent” was. With that, American’s may never know which news accusations are true and untrue.
I am going to tie this into the reading of Aristotle and his ideas of being intrinsically valuable and instrumentally valuable. I think we see so often today certain news programs, sites, and articles delivering false news to the people and spreading controversy all over the world. For example, how we are only supposed to use certain news sites for this class. I believe that someone who is publishing false news is acting intrinsically because they are doing it for their own sake and trying to make money or gain attention for themselves but it is certainly not for the good of all. In class, we wrote down several characteristics that we felt made people a “good” person. Some of these words include, integrity, honesty, responsible, and empathetic. If a news reporter/publisher held true to these qualities, they wouldn’t feel the need to spread false information for the sake of their own good. Aristotle also discusses practicing virtue or being good at being a person in the words of professor Klaskow. How can one practice virtue and being a good person by spreading false information to the public and causing so much chaos and controversy throughout the world?